Friday, June 30, 2017

As you can read in my previous post, I love My Hero Academia. Along the way, I found several interesting things that people might not know about this series. So I present my list of 10 Things That You Might Not Know About Boku No Hero Academia (My Hero Academia):

1. From A Fanboy to A Mangaka

Kohei Horikoshi's artwork that was featured in One Piece!

The manga author of My Hero Academia was once a fanboy of other famous mangaka. Kohei Horikoshi submitted his artwork for One Piece in 2002 and it was featured as part of the Usopp Gallery Pirates segment in One Piece volume 23! Eight years later, this fanboy has his first serialization in Shonen Jump alongside One Piece! Eiichiro Oda himself talk about this in the SBS Volume 77, cheers for him and promote My Hero Academia series.

Beside Eiichiro Oda, Kohei Horikoshi also known as a big fan of Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto's author. In an interview, Masashi Kishimoto speak warmly about Kohei Horikoshi, stated that he felt My Hero Academia had taken Naruto's mantle since it appeared at around the same time Naruto concluded. He also predicted that My Hero Academia would succeed overseas as Naruto had before it. Not only that, Masashi Kishimoto also make an artwork to cheers on the start of My Hero Academia anime.

Masashi Kishimoto cheers on My Hero Academia anime

Wow. I wonder if Kohei Horikoshi have the same feeling with Izuku Midoriya when All Might said, "You can become a hero", when he saw the mangaka that he admires cheers on him.

Much like its main protagonist, Izuku Midoriya, things didn't come easy for Kohei Horikoshi. Before creating My Hero Academia, he has had 2 short-lived serializations in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2010 - 2012. All of those series discontinued quickly, particularly the 2nd series -Barrage- that was axed after such a short time of serialization. Kohei Horikoshi was pretty depressed about that, but finally in 2014 he was able to come out with My Hero Academia that earn him his first success.

My Hero one-shot

Since he was depressed about his previous serialization, he decided to make a new work based on his previous work that he enjoyed drawing. His one shot that he make back in 2008, My Hero, is a particular work where he was happy when he draw it so he decide to make that one shot as his foundation and create My Hero Academia from it.

3. Some Characters Had Different Gender From Their Original Concept

Tsuyu Asui, Tooru Hagakure and Mei Hatsume are originally intended to be male characters, but since Horikoshi-sensei think the manga lack female characters, he changed them. He's glad with his decision. So do I.

4. Katsuki Bakugou's Character Comes From The Author's Previous Serialization

In the previous serialization of Kohei Horikoshi, Oumagadoki Zoo, there's a character that like the prototype of Katsuki Bakugou named Shishido. Horikoshi-sensei decide to rework him as character who still has mentality like a child, really strong, with way of fighting like jumping and flying around. This is because Horikoshi-sensei like Akira manga where the main antagonist Tetsuo Shima is really strong although he's a kid and he uses his power like a kid too. With that, comes Katsuki Bakugou

He initially mean to be a nice boy but spoke without thinking that he inadvertently hurt others without any malicious intent. In the end, Horikoshi-sensei decided to make him a big jerk instead, but with added layer where he's working really hard in his own way to be a hero. Because of the nature of the character, Horikoshi-sensei really surprised with Katsuki Bakugou's popularity, which is the no 2 and no 1 most popular character in the 1st and 2nd popularity poll, respectively.

5. Spider-Man is a big influence to My Hero Academia

Horikoshi-sensei started reading American comics from time to time and watching American hero movies after he watched Sam Raimi's Spider-Man which he thought super impressive. He said Spider-Man is a huge influence to My Hero Academia for the fact that Spider-Man is also a teenage hero. If there's a chance of cross over with American comic, he would like it to be Spider-Man. Horikoshi sensei also draw inspiration from other American comics or movies. For example, All For One design is inspired by Darth Vader.

6. The Animation of My Hero Academia Has More Drawings Compared To Normal Anime

Normal anime has 4000-5000 drawings for 1 episode but for My Hero Academia it's 7500-8000 drawings. No wonder the animation is so good! That's Studio Bones for you!

Horikoshi-sensei give name for the character that represent their characteristic. The name of Izuku Midoriya has kanji for green refering to his green hair. Kaminari Denki's name contain kanji of electricity. Katsuki Bakugou's name had kanji for explosive and win. Tooru Hagakure's name had kanji for transparent, and so on.

8. The Manga Author Only Spend 1 Day For The Final Art Of Each Chapter

It kind of unbelievable, but Kohei Horikoshi stated in one interview that he spend a lot of time on storyboard for the weekly chapter of My Hero Academia and only spend about 1 day for the final art. Sometimes the storyboard itself need 6 days to be completed because Horikoshi-sensei need time to revved up. Well, when I saw a video where he draw so quickly and effortlessly I don't really doubt his statement.

9. Dragon Ball Influenced All Might Design

Because of Dragon Ball's influence, Horikoshi-sensei feels that strong characters are packed with muscles. He really like the body shape of Goku when he goes Super Saiyan, which might be where All Might's concept came from.

10. Kohei Horikoshi Cry When He Saw The Anime

Horikoshi-sensei is really happy his manga is adapted into an anime that he's grinning when he first saw the PV. But when he watched the fight between Izuku Midoriya and Shouto Todoroki in the 2nd season of the anime, episode 10, he really touched to the point he's crying. He told it in the author comment's of Shonen Jump No 26 Year 2017.

Okay. That was all the facts from Boku No Hero Academia (My Hero Academia) that I don't think many people know and hasn't really stated in other articles. I compile it from various interview and sources. I hope this series will become better and better.